Some reminders:1. as of this post you have two days to contact your opponent. If you don't, you forfeit your spot and it may be occupied by another contestant that can play at a time appointed by the original opponent.

2. Isotropic Point Trackers on, Same starting hands on, veto mode off and the google extension was voted to be off--just don't use it!

3. This is single elimination. All rounds are best out of 5. In the event of a tie (2-2-1) another game may be played as necessary. So mostly it is the first to 3 wins, but if a player wins 2 and ties 2 games out of 4 that is considered a win.

4. The winner of the tournament will win a promo card package from the Board Game Geek Store. Go visit them and see what they offer. Kristine is awesome!

5. Post results here!

6. The moderator has never done this before. Feel free to offer suggestions and ask questions!

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/24/game-20120824-144632-a53882b7.htmlMy opponent opens Silver instead of Duchess so I'm thinking he's probably going to buy Potion over Young Witch with his $4 so I can skip Duchess as well. Of course my clever opponent just buys Young Witch next turn... (d'uh) and I follow suit. After that our plans diverge as Tdog goes for Golds and I go for an Alchemist chain with Upgrades to clean up my deck. He ends up with a giant Gold stack, but unfortunately they have a hard time lining up with all those Curses. My giant Alchemist stack helps my Upgrades to find the Curses and my cleaner meaner deck wins pretty easily.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/24/game-20120824-145846-9bb93685.htmlA pretty standard Minion game where for no apparent reason my opponent opens Silver/Silver over Navigator/Silver. We split the Minions and then we race for Provinces and Harems. My opponent hits $5 a few times and picks up Cities which help him more than the extra Harems I got or so it seems. Not sure if I should have skipped Harems completely and just gotten Cities.

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/24/game-20120824-150803-a53ae2a5.htmlIGG game although there's a very juicy Black Market deck and an Alchemist. I figure it's just too much trouble get it going so I open Bureucrat/Silver and my opponent (reluctantly) follows my lead. We race for IGGs, but Bureaucrat gives some nice economy and Courtyard decent draw so the Province pile goes down to 3 a little surprisingly. In the end it's a race for the Duchies and I guess I got a little luckier (although Tdog might have Duchied a little too soon and gotten a few too many Courtyards!?)

http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/24/game-20120824-152458-215b5a5e.htmlLast game is probably the most interesting one featuring University, Rabble, Scrying Pool, Golem and Merchant Ship. We both have the same initial plan, but then my opponent goes hard on the Merchant Ships while I want to draw lots of cards and get a horde of Rabbles and some Tributes and Native Villages to enable them. There's no +buy so no mega turns. I get a pretty big lead and then my deck decides to have a little fun with me by giving me the all Village and all Terminal hands. "Velly funny, deck", I say, "but can we get on with it now?". My deck eventually pulls itself together and victory is Geronimoo's!

greatexpectations over D Bo 3-2. a nice quick set where each game past the first went to 1P.

Game 1 D Bo 42 - 43 greatexpectations - he opens potion, so i open embargo. mostly just wharf/BM after that, though he mixes in oasis/tunnel. Game 2D Bo 47 - 20 greatexpectations - i make an ill-advised attempt to dip into peddlers opening tournament/woodcutter. he plays a more straightforward tournament game and clobbers me. i try to switch to fairgrounds but it didn't matter.Game 3greatexpectations 40 - (resigned) D Bo - i win the ambassador war and then transition into minions. he tried a clever counter using tunnels and cellars to take advantage of my minions but it was too late.Game 4D Bo 36 - 20 greatexpectations - he goes for mountebank then embassy, and i choose trader into witch. it was never really close.Game 5greatexpectations 44 - 35 D Bo - a pretty clear fishing village/torturer board, with hoard and silk road as the other key cards. he tries to embargo torturers, and uses cartographer/venture to hit his hoards. i grab a few torturers anyway and pull it out on turns.

Logged

momomoto: ...I looked at the tableau and went "Mountebank? That's for jerks."rrenaud: Jerks win.

We both go double Ambassador into cities. I dip into witches as well to get out curses. I have a bit better luck early with Ambassador which allows me to easily win the war + City split, and I see a way to 3 Pile out instead of keeping the game going.

We both open with Potion going for University, but I think maybe Remake would have been better? Anyway, I get Ghost Ships, he gets Apprentices. His work better... I was afraid to get them because of Possession. I do Possess him once and explode... but with no +Buy I have no way to come back.

One of the most interesting boards I have seen in a while. I open JoaT / Silver, while he goes Silver / Silver so I know he is going Minions. There isn't great trashing for a Minion engine, but I'm afraid that it still might be faster than JoaT? Anyway, I decide to go Duchy/Duke because a Minion Engine cannot handle greening ESPECIALLY with only limited trashing. He half-heartedly fights me on them, but I get to 6 duchies really quickly and don't choke because of the silver flood. I eventually pile out on schemes. Great game, interesting play.

Deciding game here, and I'm out of P2 so I'm at a slight disadvantage. Then I see HP / Baron as the obvious dominant strategy, and I realize I need to do something different or I am very likely to lose. So I add in Cellar, which I feel is helpful for cycling, and I somehow win the HP split. I add in an Ironworks, as being able to gain Islands I think can help... although I forgot setting aside the card ate up the terminal spot and killed Baron. He wins the province split, but my islands and duchies allow me to still win! Great game, great series, thanks for the play!

I go for Apprentices, trying to get an effective card-drawing engine that will buy out Provinces before the threat of any funny business like double-Possession kicks in. I pick up some Fool's Gold too for this. Powerman prefers Ghost Ships, but the Apprentices can more than deal with the attack. I get Possessed only once, which is nice, and not having any +buys means that the resulting huge hand he plays can buy only one Province.

Seeing Powerman go for JoaT, I guess I'll have an uncontested shot at the Minions. I feel like I have to buy a Duke or Duchy here or there to keep his score in check, and hope that I can buy enough of the Provinces to overtake him. A few turns in, I am certain I am way behind and that my strategy is stupid, but it turns out to be quite close. I don't think my strategy was a good one in hindsight though.

Being Player 1 here with Hunting Party and Baron on the board, I try to keep it simple. I do buy a Cellar as well, and I buy Gold much sooner than my opponent, which gives me a better shot at Provinces but causes me to lose the HP split. Lack of Hunting Parties persuades me not to try anything clever with Ironworks or Islands, but he is behind on Provinces so goes for Ironworks-Island. I gamble on the penultimate Province, thinking his deck is full of green and he won't be able to close out the game, but he does.

Games 2 and 3 were pretty interesting, IMO, and both of them involved me pulling important pieces from the Black market. Game 2 I get super lucky with swindler (thanks avatar) and combined with young witch I give him 8 curses. Later, I pull quarry from the BM deck, and with Worker's Village and monument build a small lead and run out the piles.

Game 3 I definitely didn't play optimally, and I think got really lucky. I pull a Mountebank out of the BM deck turn 5, but he starts buying tunnels to my minions about 1/3 of the way through, and with gardens in the game he starts catching up. Pulling two cursers out of the BM deck really helped, and trade route became a necessity for me late in that game, with colonies, gardens and tunnel all in the game.

Also, this was an odd series, in that player two won every game! I don't think I've seen that happen in all the tournament matches posted here, though I could be wrong, especially with some of the 3-0 wins.

Game one, Beyond Awesome wins, The first game we both logged out and forgot to get the log but my opponent said he would vouche for me in that game. I don't remember too much about that board. We opened $3/$4. There was Remake and Monument on the board, but Stables at $5. I thought of opening Remake, but felt Stables would offer enough sifting power and there was also Farming Village. I bought Two Monuments, Two Farming Villages and two Stables and third Stables before the last reshuffle. I was ahead on points and debated between buying a Duchy, but felt the third Stables would offer me a better chance of nabbing a Province. So, I took the chance and on the reshuffle, I nabbed the Province for the win. My opponent bought one Monument and two Stables and money, as far as I can remember.

Game two sammyt wins, http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/25/game-20120825-181013-50af6a95.html I felt this was the most strategic board we played. Lots of choices and variety. My initial goal was to go Duchy/Duke. My opponent buys the first Province, but catches onto my strategy and contests me. We tie the Duchy split. Nobles is on the board, so I decide to buy those instead of Dukes, in the hope that I can build up and use the draw power to buy into Provinces. In the mean-time, my opponent is buying Dukes. I end up with 3 Dukes. He takes 5. It is just enough, but barely as he starts to buy out Estates. It is a strategy that pays off and he wins 48-45.

Game three, Beyond Awesome wins, http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/25/game-20120825-181637-a4e058e3.html This seems like an obvious BM board. My opponent seems to go for a Conspirator engine, but there is no source of +Buy. I open Envoy and buy money, picking up a second Envoy towards the end game. By the time my opponents engine goes off, I have a decent lead. I do start to choke a bit though and end up winning by three points.

Game four, Beyond Awesome wins, http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/25/game-20120825-182357-74c02b5a.html This is a Colony game, but sadly, it seems to be another BM board. I open Moneylender/Herbalist. My opponent opens Apprentice/Herbalist. I almost opened Apprentice, but I felt early game the card doesn't do much and Moneylender would do more for me. Eventually, I pick up some Apprentice's but mostly buy money and green when I hit $11+. I thought I was toast this game, but I think my opponent misplayed Apprentice by not sacrificing bigger treasure like golds or even Plat to get more draw power, instead he blows up his other Apprentices, which I don't think was the right move. Maybe though he had bad draws. With Herbalist, we both had a + Buy, so any treasure lost could have been bought back. Btw, Herbalist is good to have in Colony games.

Game One: (log missing)We both missed the log for the first game, oops! BA went first here. Key cards were Monument and Stables--he got two and a Farming Village which he was able to collide a few times and I just got one, and that proved to be the difference. He won this one. BA 1 - sammyt628 0.

Game Three:http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/25/game-20120825-181637-a4e058e3.htmlI went Remake into an Oasis/Lab/Conspirator engine, and he went Envoy/BM. I disagree that this was an obvious BM board--sure I didn't have +buy, but I didn't build up past getting one Province per turn. And anyway, I'd tend to avoid a BM mirror going second. Additionally, I'll note that we forgot to use the point tracker this game, and I am godawful at remembering points--I completely forgot that I'd trashed my Estates (d'oh!)--otherwise I wouldn't have ended, obviously. BA 2 - sammyt628 1.

Game Four:http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/25/game-20120825-182357-74c02b5a.htmlI hate Apprentice, I'd like that on the record. Anyway, yeah, I was similarly torn between Moneylender and Apprentice opening on $5, still not sure which is better. Was generally aiming for the same thing as BA, but I idiotically trash my Herbalist to Apprentice--I do not remember my reasoning, and I do not care to remember it. That was the difference, I think--I think other than that my Apprentice play was reasonable. BA 3 - sammyt628 1.

Game One: (log missing)We both missed the log for the first game, oops! BA went first here. Key cards were Monument and Stables--he got two and a Farming Village which he was able to collide a few times and I just got one, and that proved to be the difference. He won this one. BA 1 - sammyt628 0.

Game Three:http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/25/game-20120825-181637-a4e058e3.htmlI went Remake into an Oasis/Lab/Conspirator engine, and he went Envoy/BM. I disagree that this was an obvious BM board--sure I didn't have +buy, but I didn't build up past getting one Province per turn. And anyway, I'd tend to avoid a BM mirror going second. Additionally, I'll note that we forgot to use the point tracker this game, and I am godawful at remembering points--I completely forgot that I'd trashed my Estates (d'oh!)--otherwise I wouldn't have ended, obviously. BA 2 - sammyt628 1.

Game Four:http://dominion.isotropic.org/gamelog/201208/25/game-20120825-182357-74c02b5a.htmlI hate Apprentice, I'd like that on the record. Anyway, yeah, I was similarly torn between Moneylender and Apprentice opening on $5, still not sure which is better. Was generally aiming for the same thing as BA, but I idiotically trash my Herbalist to Apprentice--I do not remember my reasoning, and I do not care to remember it. That was the difference, I think--I think other than that my Apprentice play was reasonable. BA 3 - sammyt628 1.

Anyway, yeah, good job BA--it was nice playing with you.

Edited to add match score updates after each report.

In hindsight, you are probably right to have gone for the Conspirator chain, especially since you went second. I also agree that Duke may not have been the right strategy on that one board.

You're welcome. Thanks for tolerating my schedule. I'm glad I could jump in and fill the last spot in the tournament. I am disappointed that I didn't put up a better fight! There was clearly some room for improvement in my play.

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Games 2 and 3 were pretty interesting, IMO, and both of them involved me pulling important pieces from the Black market. Game 2 I get super lucky with swindler (thanks avatar) and combined with young witch I give him 8 curses. Later, I pull quarry from the BM deck, and with Worker's Village and monument build a small lead and run out the piles.

Black Market is my least favorite card, and this is why. Although, it was my fault -- I Swindled one of his Swindlers into a Black Market, so I was asking for it, I guess. I was surprised at how close this game was given my bad luck Swindling. My two Swindlers went Estate -> Estate, Estate -> Estate, Young Witch -> Feast (which was a big mistake on my part given Hunting Party was on the board and curses were almost out), Swindler -> Black Market, Monument -> Young Witch, and Curse -> Copper (can you believe it?). Overall we both played this game well, though, I think.

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Game 3 I definitely didn't play optimally, and I think got really lucky. I pull a Mountebank out of the BM deck turn 5, but he starts buying tunnels to my minions about 1/3 of the way through, and with gardens in the game he starts catching up. Pulling two cursers out of the BM deck really helped, and trade route became a necessity for me late in that game, with colonies, gardens and tunnel all in the game.

I am also very disappointed with my play here. I was frustrated after the previous game, and I didn't concentrate as much as I should have. And did I mention I hate Black Market? My plan was to Baron/City/money and wait and see if zxcvbn2 tried to put together a Minion chain, and if he did, go Tunnel, Gardens and run out piles using the Baron's extra buys. He did, and for some reason I stubbornly refused to use Baron's ability to grab Estates. I don't know what I was thinking. I should have used that, then I could have run out three piles several turns earlier and ended the game ahead. I probably also should have had a third Baron. I also bought Minions and a Trade Route late, which was not the best idea, either. For some reason, I just did not commit to Gardening and then ending the game like I should have.

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Also, this was an odd series, in that player two won every game! I don't think I've seen that happen in all the tournament matches posted here, though I could be wrong, especially with some of the 3-0 wins.

In the last game, the clear go-to seemed to be Embassy-big money, but I thought I would be clever and try to employ Possession to take advantage of a good opponent deck. I should not have thought. I should have played the obvious strategy from the first seat. Oh well. Instead, I bought a Bishop to thin the deck and later make it more likely to play Possession more often. Given this idea, I should not have bought the Embassy myself, because a couple of times I had to avoid playing it in order to not skip over my Possession. I tried to grab Bishops at the end in a frantic attempt to catch up. Didn't work.

Young Witch was on the board, Watchtower was the bane. I open Young Witch, Silver. Lekkit opens YW Watchtower. He gets quite a lot of reveal-and-trash action out of the Watchtower while I get hammered with curses. Plus, he pulls off a pretty successful Watchtower-Native Village style engine where somehow the Watchtowers didn't end up on the NV mat very often. My short-sighted plan was to use Remake to deal with the curses (didn't work). Then, I notice that Lekkit grabbed a Noble Brigand, so I revise to pick up a Counting House or two, and amazingly it pays off (mostly luck). Lekkit ends the game on a brilliant remake a Bank into a Province and buys a Province... and he wins by 6. It felt like he should have won by more (Counting House-Remake isn't exactly a power combo... wasn't really my plan), but it ended up being a close game.

A GOONS game. There's Village support with Mining Villages, and slow trashing with Apprentice. Oh, and it turned out to be important that Mint was in the picture. We both go full-on Goons. Turn 5 was key. Lekkit (who already has an Apprentice) buys a Mint with 5 Coppers. Not long after, he trashed the Mint with the Apprentice. With nothing in the way of getting his Goons together, it's only a matter of time before he pulls away with an easy victory.

Another Goons game. This time, it featured Festival-with-Library, Worker's Village, University and Tunnel. I jumped out to a 2 Goons to none lead, and I thought I might be able to pull it off. Nevertheless, Lekkit obtained two early Universities to my one (I had a frustrating hand of CPEEE), and uses his Universities to construct some Festival-Library-Worker's Village goodness. I stake a little lead early from my early Goons play, but Library is a good counter, and Festival-Library is a decent combo. I shoot for running piles, but too slowly (and I have the University disadvantage). Despite my early Goons lead, I was never able to Double Goons. Lekkit piles out, pulls ahead, and closes out the series.

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Although it didn't go so well for me, at least there were some interesting games (mostly 1 and 3). This underdog bows out of the tournament with his tail between his legs. Thanks for the games Lekkit.

We both start 5/2 and end up going IGG/Duchess into a gardens rush. Fairly close game. DIonized favors the last IGG over a gardens which I think is a mistake. Winning the Gardens split proves key and I have enough points that he cannot buy out the last garden.

My favorite game of the set. Chancellor/Stash but with some fun wrinkles. I considered passing up witch altogether but decided to get one before getting my stashes. An early $7 let me get an Expand which I used to get a couple more stashes and chancellors from my estates and coppers with the intent of turning witch/border village into provinces end game, though they never did collide. DIonized followed me into Chancellor/Stash but I think a bit too late. I set up earlier and had 4 chancellors to his 1.

Mostly luck driven win for me. We both open Sea Hag/Black Market as there were some choice cards in there. Neither of us really hit the jackpot there but my turn 9 masquerade was probably the biggest score. I did avoid terminal collision on turns 3/4 whereas DIonized missed his BM in the shuffle. Not much else of note.

Game 1: rspeer 39 - Grujah 37. A near mirror-match of Young Witch, plus IGG without the rush. Expand vs. Remodel in the endgame. It was very close.Game 2: Grujah 45 - rspeer 32. Tournament vs. Sea Hag, but it turns into a Silk Road race. Nobles win it for Grujah.Game 3: rspeer 37 - Grujah 31. Mountebanks. I add a library and eventually claim a majority of VP.Game 4: Grujah 21 - rspeer 35. Sea Hags again, but I rush Fool's Gold for occasional Provinces before running out the Islands.

First game was indeed the most interesting. I got lucky with my initial Watchtower, and he misclicked and revealed a Watchtower as a bane instead of trashing the curse. It started snowballing when he got a few curses. I got my NV/Watchtower engine going and could buy a Province most of the turns. The last turn I had just enough coins to be able to remake my Bank (and a Copper) and still buy the last Province for a 6 point win.

Second game was a Goons game. I can't access the log now, but I remember the board was pretty cool, up until Goons. I got a pretty comfortable start with a turn 3/4 (don't remeber which) Apprentice and a 5-Copper Mint soon after that. After that I just needed to add a few Golems and Mining Villages and alternating Goons. I feel like my start was too powerful in this mirror match.

Third game had a nice counter to Goons. Library. It also had a possibility to build an engine with Festival, Worker's Village and University to add component's to the engine. He got two Goons before I could get any, and he started to go for piles I was a bit worried. My engine fired up and I got a nice turn that also gave me the exact amount of buys and cash I needed to end the game on piles. And with my double Goons I secured a win.

Thanks a bunch to nopawnsintended/pirate ship economist for being such a good sport!

Game 1: rspeer 39 - Grujah 37. A near mirror-match of Young Witch, plus IGG without the rush. Expand vs. Remodel in the endgame. It was very close.Game 2: Grujah 45 - rspeer 32. Tournament vs. Sea Hag, but it turns into a Silk Road race. Nobles win it for Grujah.Game 3: rspeer 37 - Grujah 31. Mountebanks. I add a library and eventually claim a majority of VP.Game 4: Grujah 21 - rspeer 35. Sea Hags again, but I rush Fool's Gold for occasional Provinces before running out the Islands.

Great games, each one! Interesting sets, especially second one. Loads cursing.My comments (Logs don't work for some reason):

#1 - We both had the same idea (YW + IGG as support), and it was very close.#2 - I think my Oasises here were better than Silver, also, yeah, tried not to fall into Tourney Trap and Nobles gave me an edge.#3 - O yeah, I remember this one. MBs and Spice Merchant. Was on ok game.#4 - I ignored FG, thinking that they won't to squat with junk-filled deck with low draw. I was wrong.

Edit: Games 1 and 4 had constrained cards. The first game was because pops had just lost a game, so we logged out and back in and used the same set. The fourth game we played after a break and since it was my turn to go first, I resigned the first turn (being second player randomly) and repeated the initial game's cards. Oh hey we probably should have used the tournament lobby.

Games 2 and 5 were both strategic. Game 2 was strategic in a thinker sort of way, since deciding whether Farmland is better than Gold was something to ponder. It's close, but when you make that decision several times it is a big difference. I still think Farmland is superior to Gold (Trashing an Estate for Farming Village, but not if you trash a copper for a Lighthouse.)

Game 5 was strategy, but it was duh strategy. I hadn't seen Scheme as a bane before and had a "Treasure Map Scheme combo" moment, but backwards. The lack of economy was brutal after I bought YW and I lost the game. I deserved that loss, Dsell made no mistakes of similar magnitude.

I don't think Dsell should have been scared of a Thief Engine whatsoever game 3. I went for some sort of engine because Embassy would have been such a direct win for player one. Merchant Ship BM is almost as good and accomplished about the same thing, but he could have locked it up tighter with Embassy.

I'm kind of unsatisfied with the role of first player advantage in the current tournament system. Games 1, 2, and 4 here all offered powerful big money strategies, and in all three the player that went first leveraged that to a win. Games 3 and 5 offered engines and attacks, and the player with the better strategy won. I feel like the player who got to go first for the whole set had a strong advantage for winning the entire set.

I'm kind of unsatisfied with the role of first player advantage in the current tournament system.... I feel like the player who got to go first for the whole set had a strong advantage for winning the entire set.

Thanks for the feedback, but as with most criticism, it would have been more useful--although perhaps less obvious--before the tournament started to changes could have been made.